Sin Reversa funding campaign!

Preproduction of Sin Reversa is getting more and more intense.
This week we had four casting auditions and a productive production meeting.
Set design is getting discussed and made, and we are creating some interesting extra characters.
We are getting the final production team together and today I agreed with a location sound mixer.

And.... we just launched our IndieGogo Funding campaign! Check it out!

Location scouting

Unexpectedly meeting a storyboard artist 

Yesterday we went to see a location for our upcoming short film No Return.
We had scouted a bar in Poblado, Medellin and had agreed to meet the owner, whom I had never met.

For some reason I had pictured the bar owner to be a half-alcoholic, rough-looking slob, but I was pleased to meet a distinguished physician, who immediately showed us around the whole premise and then asked us if we were looking for any other locations.
Sure, we are looking for an apartment...
"Let's go and see my place" he said and then presented us to his cousin and his cousin's mother. Then he took us to the bar's garage where his pickup was parked. "Here they filmed a scene of the film In Coma", he said. In Coma is a Colombian feature that came out last year and was pretty decent.

Cool, we enter the pickup and then the owner's cousin presents himself as a storyboard artist who had lived in California for 30+ years working with digital art for films and commercials. Okay!

The apartment was nice, but we decided we would need more space (on film everything looks tiny). But we agreed to shoot at the bar, and then the cousin showed us his conceptual art he had done for different film projects. They actually looked really good! I showed him some reference pictures for our other upcoming short film Hero. He said he would gladly collaborate with us and do some conceptual art for free. No joke? Awesome!


Tech scout

Today we went to the village where our bank location is for No Return. Normally after a first visit, if a location shows out to be suitable, the next step is to do a "tech scout" (except signing contracts). So we went with the producer, the producer assistant, the art director, the camera operator and the gaffer. Unfortunately the director of photography could not make it, but he sent the gaffer instead.

We discussed the lighting, the angles and how to decorate and prepare the place. The executive of the bank, as last time, was very collaborative and generous with letting us run around with cameras, measuring-tape and note-pads as the customers were there.

On the way back we stopped and looked for an outdoor location for Hero.

Thank you God! I am happy with how the preparations are going, we have a team that is ready to do some great work and things are falling into place as if they were blessed from above.

Colombian ID card

Today I went to get my new Colombian foreign ID card, the "cédula de extanjería", at Migración Colombia (former DAS).
They had said I could get it in 20 days and the time had come.

The attendant handed over a piece of printed paper and said "This is your temporary ID card. Come back 15th of January to get your real one."
"What? 15th of January? In six months? That is a very long time! Why?"
She explained that the company that previously had made the plastic cards for the immigration authorities, had some problem and they had to change company (or something like that).

Six months to get a new company to make plastic cards? Come on, Migración Colombia, is this stone age? I thought we were getting forward in this country!

Finding a bank location

An important aspect of filmmaking is finding good locations.

We are in the preparations for a short film called "No Return". This film has a scene in a bank.
When we started this project, we had no idea how difficult it would be to find a bank premise that somebody actually would allow us to use. All banks are rigorously concerned about security and we visited and wrote to many institutions, but none would let us film in their premises. We went searching for other alternatives, like educational institutions and even empty museum halls. But we knew that if there were no counters for example, our production cost would skyrise to provide with, or construct, all the furniture ourselves.

Now, in this process I learned about the power of good connections. I knew that a friend of our ministry who is actually the father of one of our previous students, had some influential contacts. I wrote him an email and presented out problem. And just within days, he presented us to a bank president, a friend of his. Almost instantly the president said yes. First we went and saw their premise in Medellin, but when we started our technical scouting we understood that this premise would give us some real challenges. There was a huge pillar in the middle of the hall, and the doors were awkwardly placed.

So we heard that the same bank company had another premise in a village, two hours from the city. We  thought "Ok, so what if we just bring the whole crew and cast in a bus then?" The president was just pleased to show us this place and let us use it for our project.

So yesterday we went there, and finally we found our place. A traditional bank hall, with counters and doors from where you instantly see the counters. The walls and the floor have the characteristics that we were looking for.

This was another occasion when I was overwhelmed by the "Paisa" generosity. The executives invited us to lunch and even showed us the surroundings.

We were ready several months ago to shoot this film. We had the whole thing ready to go, but we were hindered by the that bank location. Now, if we can quickly get the finances together, it seems we can finally greenlight this film.

Why did this run so smooth? Because of our friend's recommendation. Those few words opened all the doors. It reminded me about what the Bible says:

A good name is more desirable than great riches; to be esteemed is better than silver or gold. (Prov.22:1)

Medellin Flower Parade

Today I visited my second Medellin Flower Parade. It is an annual event, where the flower makers of the village Santa Elena outside of Medellin, go down to the city and parade their "silleteros", a kind of chairs for vending flowers that they carry on their backs.

The parade goes on for hours and have thousands of spectators. Not only flowers are exhibited, but also marching bands, circus figures, trucks with music groups etc. One thing that I noticed was that the amount of sponsored participants seemed to have increased from last year, thus we saw lots of flower installations with the names of the bigger companies in Medellin (come on, let this be a cultural festival and not a comercial event).

Another thing you can notice in the parade, is the joy of dancing of the "Paisas" (the people from the department of Antioquia in Colombia). The flower parade might not be the same as a Rio carnival (which I have never seen), but there is a lot of spectacle, lots of joy and willingness to share the fun with the audience.

The parade is just a part of a whole program of activities in Medellin during this week.

So it happened!

One thing you get warned of in Medellin is to get robbed.

And there seems to be good reason for it, during my stay here I have heard of many friends, or friends of friends, who got robbed. The most common case: woman walking on empty street. Man coming by on motorcycle and threatening with gun or knife to hand over all belongings. Key word: empty street.

I usually take care in not walking on empty streets, and if I have to, I try not to have too many valuable things on me.

So that's the street robber. As I have understood, these guys are usually from poor neighborhoods and go on their little "journeys" in other parts of the city and then return home.

Another one is the "public space" robber. Or let's call him a thief. This is the one I encountered last week.

I was sitting on a cafe, a pretty safe-looking one, situated on the second floor in a multi-purpose building with libraries, gym, pool etc. But I made a mistake: I put my backpack on the floor.

About two hours later, after being in work conversations over the table, I reached for my bag: gone.

So the whole procedure took place. Talking with the security guard, asking the people at the other tables, then going to the police, then to the prosecution office. The cafeteria had surveillance cameras, and I had been told I could get access to the recordings.

Finally, a couple days later, I went to the head offices of the cafe, that belongs to a mutual funds organization. With the prosecution report in my hand, I was able to enter the "security hub" of the organization, where they have all their surveillance camera recordings. As always in Medellin, you get treated as a king as a foreigner.

So I saw it, on the desaturated big screen in the surveillance hub: the theft. There I was, sitting at my table. And there he was, the guy. The man who with cold calculation and focused malice took my backpack. Frame by frame, I watched how he first just sat at a table, having a mineral water, overlooking the cafeteria, like relaxing. Dressed in a T-shirt, jeans, white sports shoes, sunglasses. Not awakening anybody's attention.

Then after doing that for a couple minutes, he approached my bag, took it, sat down at his table again and put my bag in his lap as if it was his. Then he looked into it. Then took another sip of the bottle. Took up his phone and simulated a phone call. Then a couple minutes later put my bag on his shoulder and just walked out.

In one way it was good to see what happened. It confirms that my bag got stolen. I hadn't forgotten it anywhere else or anything. In another, it was shocking to see how a person can behave in such a calculated, shameless, evil way.

In my opinion, the guy's behavior showed experience. This guy is a specialist and has done this many times.

In the bag, I neither had my laptop nor my phone, nor my wallet. But I had my prescription glasses, my small camera, my Mac charger and a 1TB hard drive. And I don't have a theft insurance.

I had been warned in several other cafeterias/restaurants not to put my bag too far away from me. I guess I had to have it happen to learn the lesson.